With Congress considering a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for state-legal cannabis businesses to access banking services and while the Federal Reserve Bank just dashed a Denver credit union’s ambition of becoming the first financial institution to serve Colorado’s cannabis industry, a member of California’s Board of Equalization says it’s high time to study what a state-run bank catering to California’s cannabis businesses might look like.

This way, growers and retailers can begin paying taxes and avoid safety issues associated with carrying large amounts of cash to make their tax payment.

“We’re a big state, and we have very creative minds,” board member Fiona Ma said at a meeting on the topic she called Friday in Sacramento with fellow board member George Runner. “We lead in many first-in-the-nation initiatives, and I believe we could create some sort of state depository that could handle cash deposits and also be available for the industry to make electronic transfers to make their payments.”Continue reading →